Inertia Engineering + Design

Inertia Engineering + Design, Inc. (IE+D) is a leading supplier of
fast-tracked, streamlined product design and engineering services
to the medical, defense, and consumer product industries that uses SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer, SOLIDWORKS Simulation analysis, SOLIDWORKS Plastics, and SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional to further product development efficiency.

Inertia Engineering + Design, Inc. (IE+D) is a leading supplier of fast-tracked, streamlined product design and engineering services
to the medical, defense, and consumer product industries. When company founder and President Ray Minato established IE+D,
he based his business model on serving clients better by quickly facilitating collaboration, efficiently handling product data, and
effectively managing projects. Minato realized that helping startups and manufacturers maximize their return on investment
required the speed and accuracy of a fully integrated product development platform.
The firm has relied on SOLIDWORKS® design and engineering solutions—including SOLIDWORKS design, SOLIDWORKS
Simulation analysis, SOLIDWORKS Plastics injection-molding simulation and analysis, and SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional
product data management software—since its inception. However, as IE+D’s business has expanded, so has the
consultancy’s need for an integrated industrial design, surface-modeling tool, according to Industrial Designer Randy Yang.
“Until recently, we used a combination of pen and paper, Adobe® Illustrator® and Photoshop®, and Rhino® surface-modeling
software to create industrial design concepts,” Yang explains. “We ultimately detail, engineer, and manufacture designs using
SOLIDWORKS software, and have routinely encountered issues during transitions between industrial design and mechanical
engineering that required a good deal of model cleanup that had to be factored into our initial planning. We also had no way
to incorporate parametrics during industrial design.”
When IE+D heard from its SOLIDWORKS reseller about the development of a new integrated subD surface modeling
package called SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer, the product development firm jumped at the chance to use an early version
of the software. IE+D signed up for the SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer Lighthouse Program, which provides the opportunity
to use the software in production as part of pre-release testing.

FAST, EASY INTEGRATION OF SOLIDS AND SURFACES

After using SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer, IE+D realized important productivity gains related to better collaboration between industrial design and mechanical engineering. For example, because the software provides for fast and easy workflows between SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer and SOLIDWORKS software—without losing parameters established during industrial design—the firm no longer has to make iterations and transitions between the two functions part of its initial planning on a project.
“I used to spend a half-day planning how we would move industrial design concepts into SOLIDWORKS, accounting for model rebuilds and fixes,” Yang points out. “With SOLIDWORKS
Industrial Designer, we’ve cut out that planning phase because of the ease in going back and forth between the two applications.
I can roll parametrics into my free-form concept models, which allows me to roll back the industrial design CAD model as far as necessary to make the frequent changes required to
support manufacturing.”

INNOVATIVE INFANT AND CHILD SAFETY PRODUCT

The first project that IE+D used SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer for was the design of an innovative infant and child safety product for a major manufacturer. The software allowed
Yang to create free-form concepts more quickly without having to worry about the transition to engineering. In addition to enabling Yang to create an industrial design without a single flat surface, SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer allowed him to address mass and volume requirements during initial concept development.
“At IE+D, we view form to be just as important as engineering,” Yang notes. “Using SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer on the infant and child safety project, I was able to focus on the design aesthetic while simultaneously addressing mass and volume concerns. The product is designed for travel so it needs to be with the child and parent most of the time, so creating a
design that would be as light and compact as possible was an important consideration during industrial design.”

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CREASING TOOL

Yang also utilized a unique creasing tool in SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer to efficiently refine the product’s handle. “While I was working on the handle design, which was initially an amorphous shape of all round surfaces, I wanted to refine the area where the hand is positioned so a user’s hand would naturally settle there,” Yang says.
“I used the creasing tool to add a hard-edge return back down the rest of the handle with a flat round on the other side to define the handle grip area,” he continues. “That would have taken extra steps in Rhino, and I wouldn’t have had the parameters that will save time down the line. The ease of moving back and forth between SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer and SOLIDWORKS design software makes the solution infinitely more efficient.”

The Challenge

Inertia Engineering + Design, Inc. (IE+D) is a leading supplier of fast-tracked, streamlined product design and engineering services to the automotive, motor sports, and related manufacturing industries. The firm has relied on SOLIDWORKS® design and engineering solutions—including SOLIDWORKS design, SOLIDWORKS Simulation analysis, SOLIDWORKS Plastics injection-molding simulation and analysis, and SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM product data management software—since its inception. However, as IE+D’s business has expanded, so has the consultancy’s need for an integrated industrial design, surface-modeling solution.

The Solution

When IE+D heard from its SOLIDWORKS reseller about the development of new integrated sub-D surface modeling package called SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer, the product development firm signed up for the SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer Lighthouse Program, which provides the opportunity to use the software in production as part of pre-release testing. By implementing SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer, IE+D has eliminated a half-day of industrial design planning per project, created free-form concepts more quickly, innovated a combination infant car seat/carrier design, and reduced the mass and weight of infant car/seat carrier design during industrial design.

The Results

Eliminated half-day of industrial design
planning per project

Created freeform concepts more quickly

Improved collaboration between industrial
and mechanical design

Reduced mass and volume of infant product
during industrial design

Products(s) Used:

“Using SOLIDWORKS Industrial
Designer on the infant and child
safety project, I was able to focus on the design aesthetic while simultaneously addressing mass and volume concerns. The product is designed for travel so it needs to be with the child and parent most of the time, so creating a design that would be as light and compact as possible was an important consideration
during industrial design.”

-Randy Yang, Industrial Designer

Because SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer
software supports faster, easier workflows between industrial design and mechanical engineering, IE+D no longer has to make iterations and transitions between the two functions part of its initial planning on a project.

Kinder Design Inc.

Kinder Design Inc. is a leading design and engineering services consulting firm based near Toronto, Canada. Kinder Design provides mechanical design and engineering services for product development and manufacturing clients in a wide range of industries.

Zeta Group Engineering LLC

Zeta Group LLC is a product design, engineering, and manufacturing consulting company that was founded in 2010 to automate manufacturing systems development and production for its clients. With two separate business operations—Zeta Group Engineering and Zeta Group Manufacturing—the company provides a range of services, including turnkey solutions that take automated production machinery and equipment all the way from initial planning and design through assembly, testing, and manufacturing.

ZAMAK Design

ZAMAK design® is a leading French industrial design studio that is driven by the creativity of its experienced designers who bring diverse expertise and multidisciplinary skills to creating innovative solutions to their clients’ product development challenges.